An aircraft fuselage includes a tubular shell having a centerline axis, opposite ends, and a cross-section having a radius R(.phi.), where .phi. is the angular coordinate of a cylindrical coordinate system, a curvature Curv(.phi.), where Curv(.phi.) is the inverse of a local radius of curvature of a surface of the shell, and a circumferential shape that varies radially by no more than .+-.7% from that of an elliptical cross-section at substantially every station along the centerline axis between the nose and tail ends thereof. The weight of the shell is minimized by "tailoring," i.e., optimizing, at least one structural attribute, expressed as a function of .phi., associated with every element of the shell, such that the weight of the shell required to react a design load incident thereon is less than that required to react the same design load, but wherein the same structural attribute has not been so tailored.